14 DAY TRIAL // In an exchange with MTV Multiplayer, Electronic Arts CEO, John Riccitiello, talked about the company's balancing licensed titles with original developments and the developers' creativity being what really drives EA forward.
Riccitiello pointed to titles like Mirror's Edge from DICE and Dragon Age from BioWare as representing everything EA has been about lately. The developers are now, under the "city state" model that has been implemented, given the freedom they need to come up with new ideas which will be translated into games that can convince players through their gameplay and which do not require an expansive license.
Bu the CEO was quick to acknowledge that his company has important and long term licensing deals that are worthwhile and that can support great games. It would be impossible to think of an incarnation of EA Sports that does not use the National Football League, the National Basketball Association or the National Hockey League as licensing partners that make games like the NBA, NFL and NHL series possible.
The partnership with Hasbro is also important to Electronic Arts because it opens the company up to the casual gaming market, one that is actively growing very quickly and where a lot of money can be made. Warner Brothers is also important because of the Harry Potter license that it develops with EA, which will produce games that target a huge core audience.
Riccitiello admitted past mistakes, saying that "I don't actually believe EA is in the business of exploiting other people's licenses with bad quality games. We've been there. Most of our competitors are there or have been there". But now, the company is betting on innovation to get gamers interested in its offerings.
Basically, what Riccitiello says is that there will be no more Catwoman, Superman or Iron Man games. That can only be a good thing, right?